shiokadelicious!

Easy Delights

This is another laggard posting on Christmas food (or at least Christmas food that we ate).

One of my favorite foods is cheese with fresh crusty bread. There is nothing quite like chomping down on an aromatic hunk of freshly-baked bread generously filled with chunks of rich gooey cheese. (I’m not much of a hard cheese person, unless it comes melted down in a grilled sandwich or something.) I think it’s a perfect combination – crispy bread crust, soft creamy cheese. Mmmm…

I also like bruschettas a lot. I find it to be a very versatile food. And I like versatile food (if you haven’t been able to tell already ) Oh, perhaps I should first clarify that the “definition” of bruschetta that I use is the “globalized” (or some might argue “bastardized”) one. If I’m not wrong, the original Italian bruschetta is nothing like what now gets called “bruschetta” in many, many restaurants across the globe. The traditional Italian bruschetta is simply slices of toasted bread that are rubbed with cloves of garlic, then drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Then along came what used to be called Pacific Rim cuisine, pan-Asian cuisine or fusion food, with cutting-edge chefs in California, North-West USA and Australia leading the way, forging new frontiers in the “new-age” palate. Bruschettas began to appear on menus in all guises… ranging from simple fares like tomatoes and garlic or spicy tuna, to decadent indulgences of foie gras or Kobe beef cappacio.

Nowadays, it would seem that just about any warm open-faced sandwich would pass as a bruschetta. So with apologies to the Italians and other food purists, my concept of bruschettas lies on the internationalized end of the spectrum.

I had intended to make two types of bruschettas for Christmas Eve, to serve as finger food and to keep tummies from rumbling too much while waiting for the rest of the food to be served. I ended up making three – sort of.

I like bruschettas as party food. They’re so easy and quick with countless possible variations, and everyone likes them.

The first variety was sautéed garlic mushrooms on a walnut and onion loaf (I used the walnut and onion Milano bread from Delifrance).

Just slices of fresh white button mushrooms sautéed with some garlic and shallots, deglazed with a little wine and seasoned with salt and pepper. These were topped with shredded cheddar and popped into the oven toaster for 2-3 minutes, enough for the cheese to melt down and for the bread to crisp up a little bit. Oh, almost forgot… the bread (which I halved across its equator) was spread with a thin layer of garlic and mustard margarine (finely chopped raw garlic and a dash of Dijon mustard mixed into softened margarine). Yum!

Next was olive bread (again Delifrance’s Milano olive loaf) topped with fresh tomatoes, garlic and coriander...

These were slightly less successful than the mushroom ones, even though they were all polished off just the same. (I had very hungry guests! ) I think the tastes of this one were perhaps a touch too strong. I was lazy. I had contemplated giving the tomatoes, coriander and garlic a quick sauté to take the raw edge off them. But I was rushing to complete the other main dishes, I was pressed for time, so I just mixed the blanched, skinned and diced tomatoes, finely chopped garlic and chopped coriander with a dash of sesame oil, a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and dumped them on the bread which had been spread with a (very) thin layer of garlic margarine (no mustard). More shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top, and into the oven toaster for 2-3 minutes. These tasted great – if you like the taste of raw garlic and raw coriander. They would have tasted better if the ingredients had been quickly sautéed. Oh well.

Now these taught me a great lesson that evening, about food, dining, cooking and making mistakes…

These were a mistake “made right”, so to speak. The “bread” from which these cheese bruschettas were made were the dismal results of my second attempt to make American biscuits. My first hadn’t worked. And I was determined to try again. This time, attempting to make cheese biscuits, with the intention of serving them with the lamb shanks. Maybe I just don’t have the necessary genes to make biscuits! I just couldn’t get them to rise. I can make scones. But I can’t make biscuits. And yet they are fairly similar. Sigh!

My so-called cheese biscuits tasted pretty good – very cheesy with a soft, fluffy bread-like crumb. But they just did not rise! Urrgh! So they sat forlornly in the bread box, destined not to see the light of day at the Christmas Eve table. Until I was suddenly struck by an inspiration. (Yes, the proverbial lightbulb going off in my head). How about turning them into bruschettas? They were highly edible. They just did not have the appearance of biscuits. Well, let them be bread then. Hey, I’m not complaining. As I had not planned on doing this, the only thing I had that I could throw on them was cheese. Which was fine. Cheese on cheese biscuits, why not? Ha, I even managed to do two versions of this! One version was to spread the biscuits with garlic margarine and top them with grated parmesan. The second version had the biscuits being spread with honey mustard (I ran out of garlic margarine and couldn’t be bothered to make anymore) and topped with parmesan and cheddar.

Ha ha, these were eaten up almost as soon as they were taken out of the oven toaster. I didn’t even get a chance to plate them properly. People just sort of wandered into the kitchen and helped themselves! Okay, so they were hungry. Where is the main meal already? But seriously, throughout the evening, people were looking to see if there were still any of these left. For some reason, the combination of cheese “bread”, honey mustard and cheddar seems to work really well. Even I was surprised! The parmesan/cheddar one worked much better than the parmesan/garlic one. Maybe I should have added cheddar to that one too.

But I learnt something important… maybe there just isn’t any “real” failures in the kitchen (unless of course the food is burnt beyond recognition, it’s rotting or in some other way totally inedible, or it's edible but not without serious risk to life and limb). What I had deemed as my second abject failure to make American-style biscuits was actually thoroughly enjoyed by others.

At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter how or what the food “should” look or taste like, according to some pre-set (by whom?) norms/criteria/standards or according to some recipe. If it tastes good, it is good food!

Here’s to many more adventures in the kitchen!

Finger Lickin’ Good!

This is a laggard Christmas post. Yeah, yeah, I know, we are already into the third day of the New Year, and I’m still posting about the food we ate over Christmas… but, I do have a valid excuse you see. I have only just “rediscovered” some “missing” pictures which were in the other memory card and which I had clear forgotten about, and have only now just downloaded onto the PC.

This dish was a run-away favorite with family and friends. To borrow a line from the dear ol’ Colonel himself, it was decidedly finger lickin’ good! It’s a twist on the very famous food dish that Singapore can proudly call its own, and which has put Singapore on the International food map… the chilli crab. Or in our case, chilli lobster.

Singaporeans just love chilli crabs. It’s all in the gravy… that rich, thick, spicy, eggy gravy that is so shiokadeliciously good when eaten with mantou (steamed Chinese buns) or just chunks of crusty bread. The gravy is addictive. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. I used to think it was very difficult to replicate the same gravy at home, until an aunt passed on a recipe to me (not sure where she got it from). I think it tastes pretty authentic… as good as the restaurant version, if you ask me. Plus, and this is a big plus for me, the home-made version is minus the copious amounts of MSG, which leaves one’s throat slaked and thirsty for hours after the meal.

The recipe is very simple, though it may seem otherwise from looking at the final dish. And there is plenty of room to adjust the flavors to suit personal preferences.

The following quantities were enough for about 6 lobsters, chopped into small chunks instead of being served in full halves. (We were serving the dish buffet style, so it just made more sense to present the lobsters in manageable sized pieces, which can be easily eaten whilst trying to balance a plate on your lap!) Presentation-wise, it would probably have looked nicer if the lobsters had been kept “intact”.

18 slices ginger
6 cloves garlic
2 gently heaped tablespoons soy bean paste (tau cheong)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons chilli sauce
10 tablespoons tomato sauce (ketchup)
1 cup chicken stock
½ tablespoon tapioca or corn flour (optional)
½ cup water (optional)
chopped parsley
chopped green onions
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork

• In a food processor, blend together the first 3 ingredients, to form a paste, which is then sautéed in hot oil until it is fragrant. This rempah (spice mix) can be made in advance and refrigerated.
• To cook the lobster (or other crustaceans): saute the rempah in a little hot oil, before adding the crustaceans.
• When the crustaceans have changed color, add the seasonings: light soy sauce, sugar, chilli sauce and tomato sauce.
• Next, add the chicken stock (or water), and allow the crustaceans to cook through completely (do not overcook though).
• If the gravy is not thick enough, add some of the tapioca/cornflour solution (the ½ tablespoon starch dissolved in the additional ½ cup of water). Be sure to have the gravy at a rolling boil before adding the starch solution, and allow the gravy to come to a boil again after adding the thickening agent. I find I usually do not need this step, as the gravy is already at the right consistency.
• Stir in the parsley and green onions.
• Finally, bring the gravy to a boil again, and very quickly swirl in the 2 lightly beaten eggs. The idea is to create thin, long strands of egg running throughout the gravy. The keys to this are to have the gravy at a boil before adding the eggs and to stir continuously and quickly as soon as the eggs are added. Personally, I find it works very well to add the eggs, stir quickly to prevent the eggs from cooking into clumps, and then to remove the heat as soon as the eggs are semi-cooked and to continue stirring to allow the eggs to finish cooking in the residual heat. This helps to prevent unsightly chunks of eggs, and to create nice eggy strands throughout the gravy.

Notes:
• This gravy works great too with crabs (of course), crayfish, king prawns (with shell) and probably just about any other crustacean. I would imagine it would work equally well with mollusks like oysters and mussels, although I haven’t tried using these before.
• The dish can be made spicier or less so by adjusting the amount of chilli sauce and tomato sauce used.
• The taste of the dish can also vary somewhat depending on the brand of tomato sauce (and sometimes chilli sauce) being used. Certain brands of ketchup tend to be more sour, and this gets reflected in the dish. This can be compensated by adding more sugar.
• Certain brands of bean paste (tau cheong) may also be more salty than other brands, so some adjustments may be required in the amount of light soy sauce used.
• It would be preferable to use low sodium stock.
• Sometimes I add the smallest dash of dark soy sauce when I want the dish to look less red.

This gravy is so unbelievably delicious with mantou and bread! Yum!

And on the Other Side of the World…

Talking about New Year’s Eve dinners... here is the yummy spread a Malaysian family enjoyed on the other side of the world, in Chicago, USA.

K. K. and his wife E were planning a family dinner for New Years, and after stumbling upon my blog, he emailed me about the assam fish curry recipe I had previously posted. We sort of discussed the types of fish that can be used for this dish. They ended up using “King Fish”. I’m not too sure what type of fish that is exactly. Is it an exclusively “American” fish? But it sure looks good made into assam curry!

They also cooked up chicken with Chinese mushrooms and “sawi” (Chinese mustard) vegetable stir-fried with what appears in the picture to be possibly sambal belacan (in Chicago??), chillis or shallots and garlic. It all looks quite yummilicious! Food does make the world go round! Indeed.

My thanks to K for the thoughtful gesture of sending me the food picture (plus another picture of his family). It was a nice warm feeling receiving them. Once or twice I have wondered whether anyone has cooked from any of the recipes on this blog. So it was really nice to receive this little feedback and to be able to put some faces to the emails and comments I receive. It was also very touching that they chose to give me, a total stranger, the privilege of sharing a small part of the joyful and warm spirit of their family’s New Year’s Eve gathering.

Happy New Year to K, E and their family!

* all pictures in this post were edited from a photograph by Kandiah Kanagandram of Chicago, USA.

Happy New Year!

A belated Happy New Year to one and all! May all your dreams, hopes and aspirations find fulfillment in the coming year! It is also my wish that our world may find much peace, compassion, love and tolerance in 2004.

We stayed in for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. It has become a habit of sorts over the last few years. Somehow, it just seems to take too much energy to brave the traffic, the crowds, the heat, the humidity, the frayed nerves (not necessarily our own) and this year, the additional security checks too, for that 10 second countdown at midnight. We now much prefer to gather a small intimate group of family and friends at home, and enjoy, in comfort, good food, fine wine and scintillating company. Maybe its age (haha), but it just seems a much nicer and more meaningful way to send off the year that was, and to ring in all that is bright, new and exciting.

I had planned to cook New Year’s Eve dinner, but was feeling under the weather that day. The previous few weeks of indulgence (or more accurately, over-indulgence?!) had obviously caught up with me. So much for convincing myself that too much of a good thing is, well, a good thing. I ended up spending most of the afternoon sleeping. My mum (bless her heart) very kindly and very efficiently picked up the slack. Sigh! Where would I be without mum? She is just so sweet. And so, thankfully all of us did not end up spending New Year’s Eve chowing down on ordered-in fast food! Everyone was very nicely fed with…

• Homemade soup: sharks’ fin in double boiled chicken soup. [This was already on the menu, and was my mum’s original contribution. I personally wouldn’t cook this, as I would rather sharks’ fins no longer be eaten at all…]

• Steamed whole red snapper. [Fish is a must – in our family and in a lot of Chinese families – on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (of both the Gregorian and Lunar Calendar). “Yu” (fish) in Chinese sounds like the word for abundance and prosperity, and so it is considered of auspicious significance to serve fish on the last day of the old year and the first day of the new, to symbolize the continuation of abundance from one year into the next. We also try to ensure that enough food is cooked on New Year’s Eve that there will be some leftovers for New Year’s Day, to signify the continuation of abundant food from one year into the next. Ah! The little “traditions” that are quirky yet heart-warming.]

• Braised soy sauce pork tenderloin.

• Gado-Gado. A salad of Indonesian origins, it is usually made up of various ingredients like tempeh (fermented soy), various vegetables, pineapple, keropok (prawn crackers), lontong (grilled coconut rice) and topped with a thick, rich, spicy peanut gravy. My mum and I have, over time, come up with our own different versions of this. This is another incredibly versatile dish. All sorts of interesting combinations of ingredients can be used. We have made the salad with different combinations and permutations of: tau kwa (pressed firm tofu), tempeh, beansprouts, long beans, cucumber, chicken, prawns, beef and whatever else that we might think appropriate at the time. Our New Year’s Eve version, being a last minute addition, was kept very simple: cucumber, ketupat (Malay coconut rice wrapped in a basket weaved from coconut leaves and steamed), diced chicken and prawns. All topped with the rich, spicy peanut gravy.

We usually prefer to use Japanese cucumber for their greener green, crunchier crunch and crispier crispiness. But these normal cucumbers taste fine, just not as eye-appealing.

• Stir-fried Chinese leeks. [Another “must” for New Year’s. This is a seasonal vegetable and only available around the Chinese New Year period. It is called “suan” in Chinese, sounding like the word “to count”, signifying progress, growth and prosperity again.]

• Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Served with vanilla wafers, chopped roasted almonds and home-made chocolate fudge sauce.

Yeah, I know, there is a distinct lack of pictures in this post… sorry, I really wasn’t in the mood for picture taking that evening…

However, everyone clearly enjoyed the food, and we had a wonderful count-down to 2004!

Here’s to a great 2004!

This Is Interesting...

I learnt something interesting today… I’ve always known that there are slight differences between UK measurements and US measurements, where cooking and baking are concerned, but I didn’t realize by how much. I had always assumed that the differences were marginal at best, and would not affect the cooking and baking process. So, I was a little surprised to discover the following…

1 teaspoon (US) = 4.93ml (and 1 tsp is usually taken as 5ml)
1 teaspoon (UK) = 4.62ml

Okay, the difference in teaspoon measurement is negligible and insignificant. But take a look at this…

1 tablespoon (US) = 14.78 ml (and is usually taken at a rounded up 15 ml) = 3 (US) teaspoons

1 tablespoon (UK) = 18.5 ml = 4 (UK) teaspoons = 1.25 (US) tablespoons

Now, this could result in important differences when baking (where exact measurements are usually very important to the end result). If I was using a UK recipe that called for 8 tablespoons of butter for example, but I used a US measuring tablespoon to measure out the 8 tablespoons, I would be shortchanging myself of 2 tablespoons of butter. (8 UK tablespoons is equivalent to 10 US tablespoons). Wow! That’s 20% less butter than is required by the recipe. I’m sure that would have an effect on the final baked product. I hadn’t realized the size of the differences could be so significant.

I will have to remember these conversions the next time I bake or cook from a UK recipe.

Here are some more interesting conversions:

1 fl oz (US) = 29.57 ml = 2 (US) tbsps
1 fl oz (UK) = 28.41 ml

1 cup (US) = 236.52 ml (usually taken at the rounded 240ml) = 16 (US) tbsps = 8 fl oz (US) = 8.32 fl oz (UK)
1 cup (UK) = 250 ml

1 pint (US) = 473 ml
1 pint (UK) = 568 ml

So, 1 US quart is 2 US pints but only 1.66 UK pints.

And for those of us living outside the US… we often see US recipes calling for ½ stick of butter or 1 stick of butter and so on. The US stick of butter is actually very different from the sticks of butter we get here (in Asia).

1 US stick of butter is equivalent to 8 (US) tablespoons or approximately 120g or 4 oz. And 1 tablespoon of butter is equivalent to 14.18g or 0.5oz.

The sticks of butter sold in Asian supermarkets are usually 250g or approximately 17 tablespoons of butter. And so a US recipe calling for ½ stick of butter is really just under a quarter of a stick for us!

Ah! The differences that make our world so interesting!

Supremely Chewy, Peanut-Buttery and Chocolatey Chippy

There is just something about chocolate chip cookies… something indefinable, that makes people react to them in a certain way, feel about them in a special way and treat them in a different way from other cookies. They are loved by everyone. I have yet to meet a person who hates chocolate chip cookies. It just comes down to having different degrees of “like”. It almost seems like chocolate chip cookies speak to each of us at a primeval level. They are comfort food, even for those of us who did not grow up on milkshakes and chocolate chip cookies!

I made low-fat chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. Yes, I know, they are not very Christmasy at all. But they are so loved by kids and adults alike, and they are a sure fire way to bring smiles to faces. Plus, I really wanted to “make right” my previous somewhat unsuccessful attempt at making chewy reduced fat chocolate chip cookies.

These ones made from this new recipe were a resounding success! Best of all, no one knew they were low fat (until they were told)! Surely, that must be the defining “test” for a reduced fat cookie, and a chocolate chip one at that. These cookies were really chewy, and really delicious (if I may say so myself ). Even I was impressed with how the recipe turned out. I wasn’t quite expecting it. The peanut butter added wonderful aroma and taste to the cookies. The smells that were emanating from the kitchen as the cookies baked… Ahhhh… Pretty close to culinary heaven!

1 ¼ cup plain flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup reduced fat margarine
1/3 cup light peanut butter
¼ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. The flour, oats, baking soda and salt were combined together in a bowl.
2. Using a wooden spoon, the sugar, reduced fat margarine and peanut butter were creamed together in a separate bowl. The buttermilk was added, and mixed well.
3. The dry ingredients were added, and stirred in.
4. Finally, the chocolate chips were added and folded in.
5. The batter was dropped by the teaspoon-ful onto baking trays that had already been sprayed with cooking spray. Next, using the back of the teaspoon, sprayed with Pam, the cookies were gently flattened to about ¼” thickness.
6. They were baked in a 350F / 175C oven for about 10 minutes. Be sure NOT to OVERBAKE. Even when done, these cookies felt extremely soft, as if they were completely undone. They were removed from the baking tray immediately and allowed to cool on wire racks. Within 1-2 minutes, they started to firm up, and were beautifully soft and chewy!

Notes:
• I recently read that in reduced fat or low fat baking, the method of measuring out the flour is very important to the success (or not) of the recipe. Apparently, the normally practiced “scoop and sweep” method (i.e. dipping the measuring cup into the bag of flour and sweeping the excess flour off the top) is not suited to low fat baking, and can adversely affect the texture of the final baked product. Instead, a “spoon and sweep” method should be used. This is where the measuring cup is placed on a plate (or some other flat surface that can catch the excess flour), and a spoon is used to stir the flour in the bag (to aerate it slightly, as flour kept in the bag can become compacted) before lightly spooning it into the cup. The measuring cup is filled until it overflows, before the excess is swept off to level the cup. Apparently, the difference in the weight of flour measured by the two different methods can sometimes be as much as 20%! This will definitely make a difference to the texture and crumb of the final product. I agree with the rationale behind this. I think aerated flour is absolutely essential for helping give baked goods a nice, light crumb. Which is why…

• I sieve all my flours whenever I bake, even for cookies (and for cakes, I usually sieve twice). And I think I will, from now on, practice the new “spoon and sweep” method for measuring flour for all my baking, and not just for low fat items.

• I don’t recommend using reduced fat margarine that has less than 50 calories and 5g of fat per tablespoon. I think margarines that are “lighter” than these parameters would probably not produce a tasty end result, and will affect the texture too much.

• I did receive a comment from one person that he would have preferred more chocolate chips in the cookies, so this would be an option to consider. Maybe using ½ or 2/3 cup of chocolate chips instead.

• These cookies do spread a little when baked, so a 2” space should be left between each cookie.

• Low fat or reduced fat baked goods are very sensitive to being overbaked. It is best to check for doneness before the stated time is up.

• I was initially a little surprised by how soft these cookies were even at the end of the stipulated baking time. For my first tray of cookies, I thought they were still uncooked even at the end of the full baking time because they were still so soft, and I returned them to the oven for a couple of minutes more. But they were in actual fact already done. Thank goodness they did not end up overbaked. They came out of the oven very soft, and firmed up immediately upon being removed from the oven. As long as they are lightly browned on the edges and on the underside, they should be done.

• I actually made 2 sizes of these cookies (dropping the batter by the tablespoon-ful and by the teaspoon-ful). The former baked out to about a 3” diameter cookie, and the latter to about a 2” cookie. With this recipe’s batter portion, I could make 11 larger cookies and 16 smaller ones. I think the batter can comfortably produce about 30 2-2½” medium-sized cookies.

• There wasn’t much of a difference in baking time between the smaller and larger cookies, with the smaller ones going in for roughly the same amount of time or maybe just one minute shorter.

• Overnight, these cookies became even chewier. When eating them the next day (assuming there are still any leftover ), I prefer to warm them up first in the toaster oven for 1-2 minutes.

• Finally, I actually even sat down and tried to calculate the calories/fat content of these cookies! Can you believe it? So, for those who are interested (or care about such things), the larger 3” cookies each have approximately 110 calories and 3.8g of fat, whilst the smaller ones have about 75 calories each with 2.6g of fat. And… if the full batch of batter is divided out to make 30 equal sized cookies, each cookie will have 80 calories and 2.8g fat.

Guilt-free indulgence. How about that?